but darlin' you are the only exception
by betweentheraindrops
Summary: Finn/Quinn. 2x02. It hurts him, how she's the one that broke his heart and is able to continue doing so even when he's claimed to move on.


A/N: I miss these two so fucking much. Yeah, SQ are adorable and I totally love them, but that's just a distraction from the absolute heartbreak of FQ's scene in 2x02. And poor Quinn during The Only Exception. Poor bb looked like she lost her best friend. There's too little love for them out there and sometimes (all the freakin' time) it's hard to be an FQ shipper, but they're worth it.

Takes place during/after/my own version of 2x02. The large section in italics is a flashback in case you were wondering.

Revews are love.

_I've got a tight grip on reality  
But I can't let go of what's in front of me here._

_- The Only Exception, Paramore_

_

* * *

"Look, I'd be lying if I said I didn't have feelings for you. I probably always will."_

* * *

Rachel sings to him in front of everyone and he hates the thoughts that run through his head.

He thinks the original version of this is better even though she's amazing and her voice is amazing. It's a shame he's not even thinking of Rachel the way he should be. At all.

He's thinking about another girl, _the_ girl. The girl he can never seem to stop thinking about. She broke his heart, he knows. She humiliated him, he gets it.

It hurts him, how she's the one that broke his heart and is able to continue doing so even when he's claimed to move on.

Finn braves a look at her and all he sees is his on-again off-again (this moment? off) best friend singing to his girl, the girl that would always be his.

So Quinn is Puck's only exception? Finn remembers a time when Quinn was his and only his. A part of him will always believe that and he (everyone) knows it.

This song- he's heard it a thousand times. It's familiar and reminiscent? Finn feels like there's something significant about this song and _oh_-

.. .. ..

_"I love you"_

_Quinn looks up from her homework on his bed, where she's sitting, eyes wide. "You what?" she asks, mouth agape._

_She honestly doesn't know how she's able to form any words right now because her mind is reeling and her heart is racing and ohmygod._

_Finn shrugs from where he's sitting on his computer chair, homework long forgotten in front of him. "Yeah."_

_Quinn shakes her head. "Finn, we've been dating for only two months."_

_He haphazardly shrugs again, saying, "So?"_

_"I- I was hoping the first time we said that would be somewhere, I don't know, more romantic."_

_Finn nods, leans toward the bed. "I just said it because I wanted to say it."_

_Quinn opens her mouth. "Finn- I,"_

_"I know we haven't dated that long, but- wait, did you say what I think you said because I think you did-"_

_"What?"_

_"Did you say you wanted us both to say it? That's what it sounded like."_

_"I don't." she sees his face fall. "know what to say."_

_Finn smiles a little because she's stunning and her eyes are a little watery (no one's ever said that to her besides her parents) and she still looks shocked._

_She lowers her head, asks small, "Why?" _Why do you love me?

_He smiles as he shrugs but his heart breaks a little because she seems shocked that someone can love her. "I don't know. I didn't really know what it was until today during football practice when the Cheerios were practicing too and when we were done, you just came over and I put my arm around your shoulder and, I don't know, it just felt right, you know?"_

_Quinn nods, smiles. Her heart is beating loudly in her chest and she feels like she's floating on air. He loves her. He loves her. It still hasn't settled in yet._

_"I love you because," he pauses. "you act like you're this bitch to everyone at school but you're totally different when it's just you and me. And you look totally gorgeous when you're thinking really hard about Trig and how you chew on your pen but only I know about that and, I don't know, I just felt it."_

_Quinn blinks back tears, reaches toward him, grabs a fistful of his shirt at the collar and pulls him up on the bed. She presses her lips to his and leans back on his bed so he's on top of her._

_She smiles under him, lets him thumb the side of her breast as hands are gently on either side of his neck._

_Her phone rings on his bedside table next to his powerade and alarm clock._

_"Forget it," Quinn says against his mouth._

_Finn smiles because he loves her ringtone and it's totally cliche (he learned that in English today!) and describes her (them) perfectly._

_And he's about to tell her so but then she's just mumbled something that sounds a lot like _I love you too_ and he seems to forget everything else._

.. .. ..

_And I'm on my to believing._

Finn's eyes scan the room; sees all the different reactions to this song. There's Mr. Schue looking through the window at the parking lot, Mike and Tina looking at each other lovingly as Artie just stares at them, sad expression on his face. There's Mercedes and Kurt texting each other, Puck just tapping his foot to the rhythm. Brittany and Santana's pinkies are entwined, San's head on Britt's shoulder.

Then there's Quinn. She's just Quinn, this gorgeous girl he fell in love with. The same girl that stomped all over him and his heart and doesn't even seem to remember what she did to him.

She's a Cheerio again just like he knew she would be. He sees her leg daintily crossed over the other one, wavy pale blonde hair pulled into high ponytail.

He told her once that he loved her in her Cheerios uniform. She asked him why but he only replied with "just 'cause". He didn't tell her why (because hello, it's embarrassing) but it was because she seemed happiest wearing it.

The two of them ruled the school and he likes the way they could walk down the hallway and students, sometimes teachers, would clear the halls, make room for them, the king and his queen.

(He knows that if anyone cares about their rep as much as him, it'd be Quinn.)

Finn's eyebrows furrow. He's heard this song before- it's, no, wait, it can't be- _oh_. It was her ringtone (what he dubbed their song at homecoming when it was played and they were dancing under twinkling lights but that's just something he refuses to think about).

Everyone's eyes are on Quinn when she abruptly gets up and crosses the room, skirt swaying around and hand over her mouth and nose, had obviously been crying.

So she remembers it too.

He sees her from the window of the door separating them both and sees her wear the saddest look in the history of forever (tears spilling from her eyes and rolling down her cheeks) and all he wants to do is hold her, make it better, and kiss away her tears. He wants to tell her it'll be okay, that they'll get through it; together for ever and ever.

But he's Finn, the guy who's heart she broke and they aren't living at his mom's and they aren't in love (not really) and they're not FinnandQuinn anymore. They're_ not_.

So he tries to let her go and he's surprised by how difficult it is, relinquishing his hold on her that he didn't realize he still had.

He remembers nights spend on his bed; soft touches and whispers of _I love you_-

Finn shakes the memories away and focuses on his girlfriend- on... Rachel, right. She's tearing up (full on crying) and Finn smiles at her, claps (a little harder, louder) along with everyone else when she finishes and bows.

He doesn't go after _her_. (But he wants to.)

.fin.


End file.
